Nigel Adams is the prospective parliamentary candidate for Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire and explains here how he was inspired to get his website redesigned after researching those used by candidates running for Congress in the US.

Any candidate running for public office knows that the internet has become an increasingly powerful tool in communicating with voters.

That’s why I wanted a complete redesign of my standard website template which I had run since being selected as the PPC for Selby & Ainsty in 2006. I gave the job of redesigning my new website to Paul Campbell at Effective Group (UK) and his brief was to ensure that the site should not only look good but also attract the eye of non-political surfers, attract potential volunteers and potential donors.

Because Selby & Ainsty is a reorganised seat, the site also had to be informative. I wanted a blog, but with a difference... so rather than have the usual candidate’s blog of where I’ve been and what I’ve done today, I asked a local young resident, Rachael Hudson, to be the site’s blogger, giving her take on the issues of the day both national and local. Much of the inspiration for the site came from researching and analysing endless websites of US Congress candidates which I thought were way ahead of UK campaign sites.

Local businessman and Conservative activist
Nigel Adams (who fought Rossendale and Darwen in 2005) last night beat off tough competition to be selected for Selby & Ainsty - a new Lab/Con marginal constituency described as "notionally Conservative".

The seat had 16 initial applicants, at least 11 of whom were A-listers. The other three "finalists" were all A-listers:

Anne McIntosh MP - her Vale of York seat is being split up with true blue Ainsty moving to S & A. She decided to use her right to only enter the process at the final stage, which may have worked against her.

Mark Menzies - a Scottish marketing manager at Asda who fought the similar seat of Selby in 2005, bringing the majority down from 2138 to 467.

Julie Moody - described by the Yorkshire Post as "the wife of a York estate agentwho has little campaigning experience but is thought of as a promising future prospect".

The A list provided three solid candidates here, but this became the first selection of the first 35 in which the constituency exercised its right to choose an exceptional local candidate instead.